Hollow plastic leaching chambers are commonly buried in the ground to form leaching fields for receiving and dispersing liquids such as sewage system effluent or storm water into the surrounding earth. Such leaching chambers have a central cavity for receiving liquids. An opening on the bottom and slots on the sides provide the means through which liquids are allowed to exit the central cavity and disperse into the surrounding earth. Typically, multiple leaching chambers are connected to each other in series to achieve a desired subterranean volume and dispersion area. Leaching chambers are usually arch-shaped and corrugated with symmetrical corrugations for strength. Additionally, leaching chambers usually come in standard sizes. The most common size for most leaching chambers is roughly six feet long, three feet wide and slightly over one foot high.
The amount of liquid that a given leaching chamber is capable of receiving and dispersing is dependent upon the internal volume of the leaching chamber and the dispersion area over which the leaching chamber can disperse the liquids. Because most plastic leaching chambers are arch-shaped for strength, the volume and dispersion area for any given leaching chamber having the same dimensions is roughly the same. Therefore, most present leaching chambers of the same size have roughly the same capacity.
The capacity of a leaching field depends upon the size and the number of leaching chambers employed. If the size or the number of the leaching chambers employed in a leaching field is increased, the volume and dispersion area is increased, thereby increasing capacity of the leaching field. However, increasing the size or the number of leaching chambers also increases the cost as well as the area of land required for burying the leaching chambers.
Efficient use of the land can be increased by having the chambers follow the natural contours of the land. When a leaching field is created from the chambers, they are typically installed with a slight downward slope away from the sewer inlet as mandated by local requirements. The elevation of the land, however, may change over the area of the leaching field. Arching and serpentine pathways can be created to generally follow the contours of the land and to avoid obstacles in the ground. For example, by deviating the pathway from a straight line, the chambers can be better installed at the proper grade while reducing the necessity to dig trenches deeper than necessary. Typical systems permit the pathway to turn, from one chamber to the next, by using a substantially fixed angle adapter between successive chambers.
While the coarse corrections to the path of the chambers makes more efficient use of the land, the amount of flexibility during installation is limited. One way to increase flexibility is by employing and adjustable coupler between leaching chambers. This allows more variations in connecting the components to yield a desired serpentine pathway for a leaching field.
In a particular embodiment, a coupler can connect a first leaching chamber and a second leaching chamber. The coupler can comprise a mating feature and an adjustment feature. The coupler can also directly connect to other couplers. Furthermore, the coupler can be a third leaching chamber, which can be a like chamber to the first and second chambers.
The mating feature can be used to mate the coupler between the first leaching chamber and the second leaching chamber. The mating feature can include a swivel connector matable to an end of one of the chambers. The mating feature can also include a flange connector matable to an end of the other chamber.
The adjustment feature can adjust the angle between the first chamber and the second chamber between a range of angles. The adjustment feature can include a swivel connector and the swivel connector can include a post member or a dome structure. The adjustment feature can be bidirectional to facilitate an adjustment in either the clockwise or counter-clockwise directionxe2x80x94as measured from the longitudinal direction of the connected chambers. The range of angles can be particularly chosen to be about 45xc2x0. More particularly, the range of angles can be about 22.5xc2x0 in either direction.
A more particular coupler can connect a first leaching chamber and a second leaching chamber, each chamber having a post interconnect and a dome interconnect at respective ends. The coupler can include a post member rotatably connectable with the dome interconnect of the first chamber and a connector for connecting to the post interconnect of the second chamber. The connector can be a flange, which can be a segmented flange. In another embodiment, the connector can include a dome member rotatably connectable to the post interconnect of the second chamber. In yet another embodiment, the connector can include a post member rotatably connectable to the post interconnect of the second chamber.
A boss can also be used to define an adjustable range of angles between the first chamber and the second chamber. The boss can interface with the end of the first chamber to limit the adjustable angle the boss can be bidirectional to facilitate an adjustment either the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. In particular, the range of angles can be about 45xc2x0. More specifically, the range of angles can be about 22.5xc2x0 in either direction.